In his 18th NFL season, Manning will be making his first trip to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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Following a cardinal rule of leadership, he surrounded himself with scouting personnel as good -or in some cases better – than he was.
Polian was named general manager of the Bills after the 1985 season, when a second year of 2-14 football brought an end to Terry Bledsoe’s time with the team.
Suffice it to say, had Bill been at the helm of the Titanic, it would not have struck that iceberg. The Buffalo Bills didn’t wind up in four straight Super Bowls via happenstance, or luck. His first decision was signing USFL superstar quarterback Jim Kelly to lead the Bills. He drafted Thurman Thomas in 1988, signed free agent James Lofton in 1989, and hired Marv Levy as Head Coach in 1986. Another five of his guys are on the Bills Wall of Fame.
Had Bill Polian ended his NFL career following his stint in Buffalo, he would have been considered a great front office man. Polian flipped the Bills from being an also-ran into an NFL power in the 1990s.
“I remember my first year starting at center, we’re playing against the New York Jets and I fumbled a snap and basically lost the game for us”.
Having cut his teeth as a college coach and scout in the CFL, USFL and NFL over almost two decades, Polian was more than ready to leave his mark and everyone bought in during those halcyon years in Buffalo.
“There’s nothing in the world of sports that hurts as badly as losing the Super Bowl”, Polian said. Then the Bills won on the field.
In 1995 Polian then joined the Carolina Panthers, an expansion team.
Upon getting to Indianapolis, Polian was handed the No. 1 pick in the draft and forced to make the biggest decision of his career: choosing between Tennessee’s Peyton Manning and Washington State’s Ryan Leaf. Under Polian, the Colts advanced to the postseason 11 times during a 12-season span and posted 10 or more wins in each of those playoff years. He stayed with that franchise until 2013, enjoying a wildly successful tenure that saw him finally win a Super Bowl ring in the 2006 season. The Colts managed to make two Super Bowl appearances and won one in 2007 under Polian. I’m happy to be associated with him. He was – and is – a man of wisdom, fierce loyalty, character and conviction. In the mid-1970s, when Levy was coach of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, Windish was his player personnel director.
He came to call Buffalo his second home. “I look forward to his enshrinement in this hall”.
With a résumé like that, it’s not surprising that former Indianapolis Colts general manager Bill Polian is headed into the Hall of Fame on Saturday. Levy and Polian worked together in Chicago for the Blitz. As Polian wrote, “I can’t say that I envisioned everything that Peyton Manning would become, but after you have been through this process, which you trust, everything pointed to him”. One thing I can say about him, he didn’t bother me during the offseason. “To me, there was no (other) choice”.
In 1998, Polian moved to Indianapolis and served as president/general manager through 2011. When told of this by Colts owner Jim Irsay, Polian said he was shocked. Tasker went on to become the greatest special teams player in NFL history.
What: The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, will induct eight new members this weekend.
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Several Bills have experienced that special feeling in recent years, looking out at the sellout crowd at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
